Christine and The Queens: Unstoppable With New Album and UK Tour

Heloise Letissier is a name you might not be familiar with, but Christine and the Queens definitely is. Rebranding herself as Christine after a desire to feel comfortable in her own skin was the first step Heloise took to conquering the music industry. After being drawn to London’s drag scene and encountering a group of drag queens in Soho, lines became blurred and suddenly everything started to fall into place. Christine was born, and she was ready to make her voice heard.

Loving theatre, performing and dancing since she was young, Christine incorporated this to fit with her music. It makes her songs come alive, adding a depth which a lot of artists still struggle to achieve. Her first album, ‘Chaleur Humaine’ (Human Warmth), was named the UK’s biggest-selling debut album of the year at the end of 2016. The album sold over 850,000 copies in France and gained further international success when re-released in English in 2015. Her song ‘Tilted’ (translated from ‘Christine’) reached number 2 in the UK Indie charts and became a Top 20 hit in the UK Singles chart.

She began receiving attention from bigger artists, most notably Madonna, who imitated Christine during a performance at the 2015 Grammy’s that was inspired by Christine’s ‘Saint Claude’ music video. They even shared a duet during Madonna’s ‘Rebel Hearts Tour’ in Paris.

The persona of Christine didn’t last long, and in 2017, Heloise reinvented herself again to become Chris- a more masculine, unapologetic, powerful true version of herself that she finally felt comfortable being. There are no rules with Chris, no labels, nothing holding her back. Being Chris is an expansion of what being a woman- a person- can mean. As a pansexual queer-woman, Chris explores androgyny, the masculinity and dominance women can have, refusing to confine to the norms of society and merges together themes of lust and curiosity.

Along with Chris, came her new album of the same name. Released on 21^st September 2018, ‘Chris’ has already been highly praised by music journalists and publications, with a 5/5-star review from the Independent, 9/10 review from Clash magazine, 5/5 stars from The Guardian and Line of Best Fit naming the French version of ‘Chris’ Album of the Week, giving it a 9-score rating. These are all very credible and notable publications for any artist to receive consistently high praise from.

Chris has released a short documentary with Apple Music in which she talks about the creation of the album, and has recorded a special performance from Salle Pleyel. The set is exclusive to the Apple Music project however the choreography she uses will be incorporated into her upcoming live shows. You can watch them here: https://www.nme.com/news/music/watch-christine-queens-live-film-salle-pleyel-paris-2384180 & http://apple.co/ChrisAppleMusic

In short clip of her documentary, Chris describes that ‘Chris was born out of an itch, a need, a crave. Going out in the open and hurling myself against things that could hurt me’.
Being inspired heavily by Michael Jackson in the way that she dances, Chris says that ‘When writing a song, if I start to move myself it’s kind of a good sign’. Her music oozes 80’s disco-dance vibes with influences of David Bowie, Prince and Madonna and with stand-out songs such as ‘Girlfriend’, you would fail to keep still whilst listening to ‘Chris’. It is no surprise that she is also nominated for two Q Awards this year, for ‘Best Track’ and ‘Best Solo Artist’.

Chris/Christine and the Queens will be performing two huge dates at Manchester’s O2 Apollo on the 27th November and 28th November, one of which has already sold out due to popular demand.

Tickets for Christine and the Queens are available here: http://gigst.rs/catq